Nurser and feeding nipple therefor



March 13, 1956 E. v. PERREAULT 2,738,038

NURSER AND FEEDING NIPPLE THEREFOR Filed Aug. 9, 1952 2'0 FIG. 8IINVENTOR.

\ I ATTORNEY United States, Patent ice NURSER AND FEEDING NIPPLETHEREFOR Emil V. Perreault, East Providence, R. 1., assignor to giwolRubber Company, a corporation of Rhode and a Application August 9, 1952,SerialNo. 303,533 10 Claims. Cl. 215-11 The present invention relates toinfant feeding equipment and has particular reference to a novel nursercombination and a novel feeding nipple therefor.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a nurser combinationwith feeding nipple which provides a normal fluid flow when mounted on anursing bottle, and which is readily adjustable after mounting to eitherincrease or decrease the flow.

Another object of the invention is to provide a feeding nipple for anursing bottle which is selectively adjustable to one of severalpositions on the nursing bottle for controlling liquid flow from thenipple.

A further object of the invention is to provide a feeding nipple withcontinuously open air vent passages of different areas, the nipple beingrotatable on the bottle rim for selecting a desired air vent flowpassage.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, theinvention consists of a novel arrangementof parts, more fully disclosedin the detailed description following, in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claimsappended thereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevationshowing a nurser combination with nipple embodyingthe invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the nipple of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of Fig. 2;

'Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail on the line 55 of Fig. 4; r

Fig. 6 is a sectional detail showingthe nipple and its air vent parts,when-mounted on a nursing bottle neck and rim; and V Figs. 7, 8 and 9are sectional details showing the relations of the parts for normal,reduced and increasedliquid flows.

It has been found desirable to provide a nurser combination of a nursingbottle with a feeding nipple having an air vent arrangement of specialdesign, whereby a suitable turning movement of the nipple after it ismounted on the nursing bottle increases or decreases the fluid flow. Tothis end, I have devised a nipple which can be readily adjusted on thenurser bottle, as by a turning operation, to selectively utilize one ofa number of alternative air vent passages of different size, whereby theresulting flow of fluid in response to suction of the infant is readilyadjusted to the infants requirements. I accomplish this novel regulationby selectively directing venting air along grooves of difierent area.

Referring to the drawings, the nipple 11 is of hollow type, of flexiblerubber or the like, and includes a body 12 of generally cylindricalform, a cylindrical neck 13 of smaller diameter, and a feeding tip 14 ofgenerally spherical form and slightly larger than the neck 13, the tip14 having one or more feeding openings 15. The body 12 is connected tothe neck by an annular portion 16 of generally triangular cross-section,the inner edge 17 of the portion 16 depending downwardly as illus-2,738,088 Patented Mar. 13, 1956 face 25 of the bead '19 is taperedupwardly, see Fig. 4,

and a finger tab 26 extends laterally from the nipple body and isprovided with a finger depression 27 on its upper surface, to facilitatemounting of the nipple on the nursing bottle.

Referring now to Fig. 4, the groove 19 has a tortuous lower surface 25of the bead 18. The rib on the body inner surface 23 has a downwardlyextending section 29, then a lateral portion as indicated at 30, thenupwardly as a section 31, then laterally as a portion 32,

and then downwardly as a terminal section 33, whereby.

two spaced passages 34, are formed, the passage 34 being of less widththan the passage 35. The sections.

29 and 33 are of equal height. and width, and the The later rib portion30 and 32 may be of the same width as therib sections29 and 33, and maybe of the same height, but preferably are of less height.

When the nipple is mounted on the rim of a nursing bottle, see Fig. 6,the body is stretched laterally, see Fig. 1, and the rib sections 29, 31and 33 are compressed as shown in Fig. 7. In this position, the ribportions 30 and 32 are stretched laterally, so that air may enter intothe interior of the nursing bottle along the edges of the terminalsection 33 and through both passages 34, 35, which are reduced in widthand height due tothe stretching of the nipple body over the bottle rim.In this posi: tion inward flow of .venting air is normal. If it bedesired to decrease the inward flow of venting air, the

nipple is turned slightly counterclockwise, see Fig. 8,

whereupon there is a twisting action which presses the central ribsection 31 into the passage 35, thus restricting flow of air into thevpassage 34, which is relatively of smaller area. The inflow of ventingair is thus reduced, and fluid flow from the bottle and nurser isreduced.

If the nipple be turned clockwise, see Fig. :9, the centralrib section31 is pressed into the passage 34, whereby a greater inflow of ventingair takes place through the larger passage 35, and a greater fluid flowresults.

Three control positions of the nipple are thus provided by theillustrated construction, a normal flow position, see Fig. 7, in whichthe air ventis through approximately one half of passages 34 and 35, adecreased flow position, see Fig. 8, in which the air vent is throughthe smaller passage 34, and an increased flow position, see Fig. 9, inwhich the air vent is through the larger passage 35. Although I havedescribed a specific embodiment of my invention, it is obvious thatchanges in the size, shape, arrangement and positioning of the parts maybe made to meet different regulation and control requirements forfeeding nipples, without departing from the spirit and the scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: 1

1. In a feeding nipple having a body, a neck, and a feeding tip, aninternal annular groove in said body for detachable mounting on the rimof a nursing bottle, and an air vent rib extending across said annulargroove, said rib including a tortuous section in the groove having tworib sections and an intermediate rib section forming two adjacentair-vent inflow passages, the spacing between the intermediate ribsection and one outer rib section being greater than the spacing betweenthe intermediate rib section and the other outer rib section, wherebythe two air inflow passages have different flow areas.

2. In a feeding nipple having a body, a neck, and a feeding tip, aninternal annular groove in said body for detachable mounting on the rimof a nursing bottle,'and an air vent rib extending across said annulargroove, said rib including a tortuous section in the groove having tworib sections and an intermediate rib section forming two adjacentair-vent inflow passages, the spacing between the intermediate ribsection and one outer rib section being greater than the spacing betweenthe intermediate rib section and the other outer rib selction, wherebythe two air inflow passages have different flow areas;

3,. In a feeding nipple having a body, a neck, and a feeding tip, aninternal annular groove in said body for detachable mounting on the rimof a nursing bottle," and an air vent rib extending across said annulargroove, said rib including a tortuous section in the groove having two'rib sections and an intermediate rib section forming two adjacentair-vent inflow passages, the spacing be tween the intermediate ribsection and one outer rib section being greater than the spacing betweenthe intermediate rib section and the other outer rib section, wherebythe two air inflow passages have different flow areas 4. In a feedingnipple having a body, a neck, and a feeding tip, an internal annulargroove in said body for detachable mounting on the rim of a nursingbottle, and an air vent rib extending across said annular groove, saidrib including a tortuous section in the groove having two rib sectionsand an intermediate rib section forming two adjacent air-vent inflowpassages, the spacing. be-" feeding tip, an internal annular groove insaid bodyfor detachable mounting on the rim of a nursing bottle, and

an'air vent rib extending across said annular groove, said rib includinga tortuous section in the groove having three spaced rib sectionsforming two separate air vent passages, the intermediate rib sectionbeing of greater height than the other rib sections.

6. In a feeding nipple having a body, a neck, and a feeding tip, aninternal annular groove in said for detachable mounting on the rim of anursing bottle, and

detachable mounting on the rim of a nursing bottle, and

an air vent rib extending across said annular groove, said rib includinga tortuous section in the groove having three spaced generally parallelrib sections forming two adjacent air vent passages, one of saidpassages being of less width than the other passage, the intermediaterib section being of greater height than the other rib secions. 8. In afeeding nipple having a body, a neck, and a feeding tip, an internalannular groove in said body for detachable mounting on the rim of anursing bottle, and an air vent rib extending across said annulargroove, said rib including a tortuous section in the groove havingthreespaced generally parallel rib sections forming two adjacent air ventpassages, one of said passages beingof less width than the otherpassage, the intermediate ribsection being of greater height than theother rib sections. 9. A feeding nipple having a generally cylindricalbody, a neck, and a feeding tip having a feed opening, said body havingan annular internal groove for detachable mounting on the rim of anursing bottle, and an air vent rib extending across said groove,comprising a downwardly extending section, a lateral portion, anupwardly extending section, a lateral portion, and a downwardlyextending section, whereby two spaced air vent passages are providedacross the internal body groove. 10. A nurser combination including anursing bottle having a rim, and a nipple of flexible material having abody, a neck, and a perforated feeding tip, said body being generallycylindrical and having an annular interior groove, for detachablemounting over the bottle rim, and air-vent passage means in said grooveincluding two parallel spaced ribs of similar height and an intermediaterib of greater height spaced to provide a flow passage of greater areaon one side of said rib than on the other side of said rib, wherebyrotation of the nipple selectively clockwise or counterclockwise whenmounted on thebo ttle rim forces the intermediate rib into one passageor the otheripassage to change the inflow of ventingair.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS.

1,919,537 Stock, Jr. July 25, 1933 2,434,611 Hamiel Jan. 13, 19482,434,612 Hamiel Jan. 13, 1948

